Thank you, Tupac. (Seriously)

Last week something remarkable happened.

A student of mine came in and asked me if I would read his writing.   HIS writing.   Not something I assigned him.    I agreed and before opening his book, I asked him what I'd be reading.   He told me that I'd be reading some of his wraps and poetry and he wanted my feedback.

Holy smokes.

It's amazing.   It's deep.   It's powerful.   It's so honest and real.    It's beautiful, and it blew me away.   Did it have some spelling and grammar issues?   yep.   Do I care?   Nope.   He let me in!  He let me read his thoughts, his feelings, etc.   What an honor!

After I read what he had wrote, we got on the topic of poetry and I asked him if he ever read the poetry of Tupac.   He had not.   I asked him if he would want to do a one on one book study with me and we would read it together.   He agreed.

Fast forward to a few days later.   Said student is sitting with me at the reading table and we're working on some progress monitoring.   I use my cell phone to do the timing.   An alert pops up on my phone indicating that "The Rose that Grew from Concrete" has shipped and is due to arrive on Friday.   I show my student the text and he smiles.   I said, "Our books will be here tomorrow!"  You would have thought he won the lottery.   He went on to thank me and to tell me that he has never ever had a teacher buy a book for him.   He's never had a teacher he wanted to let read his writing.   He's never had a teacher know the power of rap music.   He's never had a teacher who got him until he got me.

And that, my friends... made me cry.   These moments.   They happen.   I am forever thankful for the blessings I have received and forever grateful to have the honor of working with these amazing young adults.